"You are very good."
"Speak for yourself."
Link and Sheik sat against the wooden fence in front of Paya's house. They had gotten up at the crack of dawn and fought for hours. Both were panting from the fight they had just had. After having fought for so long, they decided they needed a well deserved break.
"I still don't understand how you are so fast," Link said. "It's like you disappear every time I turn around."
Sheik smiled.
"You're very sneaky, too. I've never seen anyone be as quiet as you are when you move with such speed."
Sheik sighed.
Link hesitated. "Did you learn these from your past?"
Sheik placed a hand on Link's shoulder. "Link," he started. "I can trust you, right?"
Link was confused. "What do you mean?"
"Can I trust you?"
Sheik's red eyes held Link's gaze. He looked the most serious Link had ever seen.
"Of course, Sheik," he replied.
Sheik smiled. "I know I can. I just wanted to hear you say it." He took his hand back and rested his head on the fence.
"I was born here."
Link was taken aback. "What?"
"I was born in the village?"
"Kakariko?"
Sheik nodded. "I lived here with my mom, dad, and my older sister for 5 years. We were a normal, happy Sheikah family. My sister liked to paint with my mother and my dad was a musician. He played the flute... or something similar to a flute. I can't really remember now." Sheik paused.
"So what happened?" Link asked.
Sheik closed his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~
It was the first snow Kakariko Village had seen since before the Calamity. An unexpected cold front had moved in from Mount Lanayru and covered all the way from Hateno Village to the Dueling Peaks. About a foot of snow covered the entire region. Even though the kingdom was in shambles and had been for about 87 years, the children and their parents welcomed the snow. It gave them a chance to forget about life for a while.
A 5 year-old Sheik ran out of his house into the freezing air. He felt a hand grab the back of his shirt and pull him back.
"Where do you think you're going? Look at your clothes!" his mom said. She had a big brown winter coat for him in her other hand and wrapped it around him.
"Hurry, mommy! Shayla is already out there!" he pleaded.
"Your sister can wait for you," she said. She looked at him from head to toe and nodded. "Ok Sheik. You can go."
Sheik lifted his foot to go but his mom stopped him one more time.
"I'm sorry, honey. I know I say this every time we go out, but I need to make sure you remember. If you get lost, be sure to hide and—"
"—find family," he finished.
"Yes!" He hugged his mother tight and waddled down the hill toward his older sister.
In the middle of the village stood a 12 year old girl with her mouth wide open and pointed towards the sky. Her hair hung behind her and was so blonde it almost appeared white. She wore a pointy dark blue hat that covered her ears and she wore a fluffy white jacket over her tan pants.
"Shayla, what are you doing?"
She closed her mouth and looked down at her brother.
"You took way too long," she joked.
"That's what I said to mommy!"
Shayla laughed. "Well come on."
The two siblings ran around with all the other kids in the village. They built all sorts of bunkers and forts and had snowball fights. Sheik continually aimed for this particular girl who was about the same age as him. She would aim for him right back. After a while all the kids became tired and went back to their houses.
Except Sheik.
"Are you sure you don't want to go back inside?" Shayla asked out of breath.
"No, I'm not tired at all," Sheik said. "Why don't we play hide and seek!"
Shayla sighed. "Ok fine. But just two games. Then we go inside."
"Ok, ok," Sheik said impatiently. "You hide first!" Sheik ran up to a tree and covered his eyes with his hands.
"One... two... three..." he started to count out loud. He could hear Shayla crunch away towards one of the nearby houses. Sheik peeked around the tree to see her walk around the back of it.
"...nineteen... twenty!" Sheik spun around and looked at the snowy village. Since he had peeked, he knew exactly where Shayla was, but he didn't want her to know that. He trotted around a little, looking behind bushes and trees and saying things like, "Gee! Where could she be?"
He quietly made his way to the house she hid behind. He tried his best to crunch the snow quietly as he approached the corner of the house. He jumped around to the backside.
"Ha!"
To his surprise there was nothing but an empty wall. All that sat there was a pile of logs with new snow piled on top.
"Shayla?" he asked the empty air. "Shayla?" He inched forward.
"Boo!"
Sheik jolted into the air and turned around to the voice. It was his sister, holding her gut as she laughed.
"Shayla!" He ran up and pushed her. "Don't do that! I thought you were lost!"
Shayla continued to laugh. "I'm sorry, Sheik. I just couldn't resist! Got you pretty good, huh?"
Sheik grunted and stomped in the snow. "Ok. My turn." He pointed to the tree where he had counted. "Go count over there." He started to run off to hide.
"Sheik, wait! Remember to not go outside the village!" Shayla yelled.
"I know!" he answered as he ran farther away. He trudged up the hill that led to the lookout of the entire village. He slipped a few times on the powdery snow, but eventually made it into the small forest. The forest naturally formed a pathway all the way through the green trees. He followed it until he came to what looked like a gigantic, unbloomed flower — about three times the size as he was. He wanted to run and hide before Shayla found him, but he couldn't help but look at it.
He walked to the backside of the flower. It emitted extreme warmth despite the snow piled on the ground. He put his small body up against it and stayed for a while.
Sheik all of a sudden heard footsteps rushing past the flower. He thought fast and buried himself in the cold snow at the base of the flower. He felt some of the powder fall down his back, but he just shut it out. All he had to do was be silent, and Shayla would have no way of finding him. He smiled at his genius plan the way only a little child could. The footsteps rushed by again. And again. And again.
"My spot is so good!" Sheik thought to himself. He heard even more footsteps fly by on the path that led down to the village.
It was here when the 5 year-old Sheik began to get nervous. There was no way Shayla would walk past this flower and not investigate. Or at least call out his name.
He hid there for a few minutes. Then half an hour.
Then two hours.
"Shayla?" he yelled out. He popped his head above the snow. "Do you give up?"
He got up from under the snow. Brushing off the powder, he said goodbye to the enormous unbloomed flower and started to walk—
He stopped.
When he had first walked up, the trail had been full of snow. Now, it looked like an entire army had marched down the path. It appeared almost as if it had been plowed.
Sheik cautiously walked down the path to the village. The closer he got to it, the more he saw. The smooth snow that was once there was now pushed to the side and had tracks all the way down to the village. And in the middle of the village...
Was a red Yiga eye painted outside the Elder's home. His parents had taught him that these people were the bad guys. Sheik saw bodies laying face down in the snow next to houses and on porches. Some were face up with their lifeless, snowflake-covered faces pointed towards the sky.
Sheik stopped. His little 5 year-old mind tried to piece everything together. Had the bad guys come to the village and killed—
Sheik looked to his house and saw his mother, father, and older sister lying in the freezing, red snow.
Sheik may have been just a child, but he knew what this meant.
He knew exactly what this meant.
"Sheik!"
He saw the little girl he had thrown snowballs at earlier. Tears hung on her eyes. She began to walk towards him.
He turned his weeping body around, and ran.
"Sheik!" The girl called once more.
He ran as far as he could. When the tiredness came, he still ran. He ran until he couldn't run anymore. Finally, the small Sheik collapsed onto the ground, not knowing where he was, or what to do.
~~~~~~~~~~
Link stared at Sheik with astonished eyes. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and looked down. Sheik stared forward, obviously trying to keep his emotions from spilling out. He swallowed hard as his red eyes stared at the grass in front of him.
Link cleared his throat, trying to hold his emotions back as well. Sheik continued to stare forward. He breathed loudly through his nose, and a single tear fell from his eye.
Link knew he wasn't good with words, especially in a situation like this, so he simply placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.
At this, Sheik buried his face in between his knees and sobbed like a child. His whole body shook with emotion.
Link let him have his moment. He looked behind at Paya's house and, to his surprise, saw her leaning against the railing, wiping her own tears away. She had been listening the entire time, and he never knew. Link softly smiled and turned back to Sheik.
Sheik cleared his throat. "This is one of the reasons why I didn't want to tell you."
"Because you'd cry?"
"No," he sniffed. "Because of the memory."
"I'm so sorry."
Sheik took his sleeve and wiped it across his face.
"I still think about them. They were the best family I could ask for."
"May I ask what happened after that?" Link said.
Sheik sighed, and began again.
"I immediately found a house in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea where it was or who lived there, but I took their food, water, and a small knife. I lived off the food I had stolen and slept wherever I wandered. I learned how to throw the knife and started to collect them whenever I found another." He pulled out one of his needles from his leg.
"I eventually turned them into these." He put them back.
"And when the monsters came, I hid, just like they had taught me. I have no idea how I survived all that time."
"How long did you wander?"
"Well, I've wandered all my life. Even when I did have what they call a home."
"What do you mean?" asked Link.
Sheik sighed. "When I was 12 years old I traveled to the Gerudo Desert. I had been there before, but I wanted to explore the cliffs and caves more thoroughly. I got deep into one of these canyons that seemed to go on forever. The longer I walked, the more I noticed these statues on the ground and high on the cliffs. I eventually came upon a room with tapestries hanging around the walls." He looked to Link. "I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."
Link nodded.
"From there, I snuck into the hideout, stole a uniform, and lived among the Yiga. I had food, shelter, protection, everything I needed to survive. I even learned how to fight, and where I adapted my speed."
He paused.
"I had become my own enemy."
He continued. "Every chance I got I'd go out and explore. After living in the wild for 7 years I got pretty good at being elusive, so this wasn't a hard task. I just... I wanted to get away. I hated it there, but it was easy and convenient, so I stayed. That is, until I learned about you.
"There was chatter around the hideout that the hero had been born again. Most of the people didn't believe it, and neither did I. How could the hero that fell 100 years ago be alive? But I ate my words when I saw you break into the hideout and end Master Kohga. I couldn't believe how skillful you were. You were, and are, the best sword fighter I've ever seen. When I saw you fight, I remembered the legends of the appointed knight who was the most accomplished swordsman in the kingdom. It had to be you.
"After you destroyed the Calamity and freed the princess, I caught wind that our new master was making plans to come after you. I listened in on what that plan was, and stayed until they captured you. After that, I carried you out of the hideout, took you here, and I'm never going back."
"Why?" Link asked.
Sheik looked him in the eye. "The Yiga are evil. I've known that all my life, but I experienced it first hand when I was one of them. I did things that I think about to this day. There are voices I hear at night. Faces flash before my eyes. There are actions I've taken that I can never undo. The best thing I can do now is stay away.
"I've done bad things because the good in my life was taken from me. That's why I want to help good people like you. And Zelda. And Paya," he concluded.
Link looked to the ground.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier."
"No," Link said. "You're ok."
They both heard a sniffing and a shutting of a door behind them. Sheik turned around, but Link didn't because he already knew who it was.
"Was that Paya?" asked Sheik.
Link nodded.
Sheik sighed and smiled. He looked behind him again. "Ok."
"What's that look for?" Link raised his eyebrows.
Sheik shook his head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it, Link." He stood up, brushed the dirt off his rather tight pants, and reached out to Link. Link swung his own hand around and grabbed it.
"Thank you for telling me," Link said, standing up.
"You're welcome He-" Sheik caught himself. "Link." He smiled.
"Want to go again?" Link asked.
"Maybe one more," Sheik responded.
"Link!"
Both of them turned to see Zelda running from the Inn. She was fully dressed in her regular blue attire. Her golden hair trailing behind her. She ran up to the two of them.
"Link," she repeated. Her eyes were full of worry.
"What's happened?" Link asked.
She gulped. "I had a dream."